Tamsil Linrung was prevented from boarding a Cathay Pacific Airways flight to Canada, leaving from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta international airport on March 21st, because, so it is said antara, airport authorities had been informed by US embassy officials that Tamsil was an undesirable passenger. He was part of a 12-member group of MP's heading to Canada for a working visit. One report says the government of Canada issued the late ban on his visit. suaramerdeka

Tamsil Linrung.

Tamsil Linrung is a parliamentarian from the Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS), or Justice Party, from South Sulawesi, and has in the past been accused of being a member of Islamic terror groups such as Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), and militant groups such as Laskar Jundullah.

He was once arrested, along with two other men, his brother-in-law Agus Dwikarna and Abdul Jamal Balfas, by Philippines police at Manila airport in 2002 for attempted smuggling of a small amount of C4 explosives, detonating cords, and blasting caps, and is believed connected with the Preparatory Committee for the Implementation of Islamic Law.

All three men claimed that the bomb-making materials had been planted on them. Agus Dwikarna was charged with the crime and was sentenced to 10-17 years. Charges against Jamal Balfas and Tamsil Linrung (he is sometimes called Hamsid Lin Rung in Philippino court documents) were dropped after president Megawati made a personal plea to Philippines president Arroyo and the two were released a month after the arrests. supremecourt.gov.ph

Yudhi Chrisnandi, a Golkar member from the parliamentary commission for foreign and defence affairs, complained that this latest example of Tamsil's travel woes was an outrageous insult and humiliation for the Indonesian parliament and the entire nation, and a violation of Tamsil's human rights. Tamsil wasn't even going to the United States, he added, but to Canada. republika

Chrisnandi gave the US embassy seven days to solve the problem or the House's Commission I would do something about it.

_________________

March 25th.

Former Muhammadiyah leader Ahmad Syafii Ma'arif says the government has to take firm action against Canada. He said the Canadians have to understand that they have insulted one of the Indonesian people's representatives, and that Tamsil had travelled many times previously without getting into trouble. Ahmad said he personally did not agree with much of Tamsil's beliefs but he still had to be respected.

Meanwhile Azyumardi Azra said Canada had to do whatever America told it to, so it was easy to understand the issue. mediaindo

_________________

March 26th.

Tamsil Linrung says he will visit the US embassy in Jakarta to ask for an explanation of his black-listing, even though it is now clear that the ban on his travel came from the Canadian embassy.antara

_________________

March 28th.

The Association of Muslim Intellectuals, Ikatan Cendekiawan Muslim Indonesia (ICMI), demands that the government take a firm stand against the governments of Canada and the United States. Chairman of the ICMI Nanat Fatah Nasir complained of the meek reaction of parliamentarians, including those who were part of the group going to Canada. antara

Why is the Indonesian nation silent? Tamsil has never been proven to have done any wrong and what's more BIN have cleared him of any involvement with Jamaah Islamiyah.

We urge the government to show some teeth.

36 Comments on “Tamsil Linrung”

I just posted a similar story on my blog/forum. One thing that they’ve got a bit confused is that he was arrested with Jamal Balfas, Agus Dwikarna (later given 10 years for terrorism in RP). On that trip in March 2002, he met with Al-Ghozi in G. Santos City, presumably to pick up the bomb stuff. They were heading to Thailand when they were caught. He returned to Jakarta, after intervention by Megawati, to heroes welcome from a who’s who of terror groups such as MMI, FPI, DDI, Laskar Jihad and the militants of both the PKS and HMI. He then left PAN and joined PKS…

They should not only ban the fool from flying to a civilized country, they’d do well to toss him in Gitmo right now and throw away the key.

I also read an article he penned after the London bombings that was just pure evil… I’ll see if I can find it and link it.

Well Tamsil had violated the human rights first. So he deserves to be humiliated. In fact I had humiliated him by photoshoping his picture and blending it with a picture of some random monkeys. Unfortunately no luck for me as he’s uglier than a monkey. (In fact I feel bad for the monkey)

Don’t know much about mr Tamsil. Taking the information provided here for granted, it’s not a man i would like to know. But it’s rather questionable – within the framework of international relations – to ban a member of parliament of a befriended nation from an official visit to your country.

Yudhi Chrisnandi, a Golkar member from the parliamentary commission for foreign and defence affairs, complained that the matter was an outrageous insult and humiliation for the Indonesian parliament and the entire nation, and a violation of Tamsil’s human rights.

Yudhi Chrisnandi seems to have have lost it completely. Normally people who carry explosives are considered criminals, and end up in jail. Because of political intervention Tamsil Linrung is still walking around as a free man. That Indonesia doesn’t convict potential terrorrists is their business. But that Chrisnandi expects other countries to be as lenient as Indonesia bears testimony of his political near-sightedness.

The ones that are insulted and humiliated are the people of Indonesia, who see again that certain people are still standing above the law and can get away with carrying explosives and on top are rewarded with a position in Indonesian Parliament.

Human Rights? Don’t the people, he was going to blow up, have Human Rights? He is just using Human Rights when it suits him and he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about them.

Chrisnandi gave the US embassy seven days to solve the problem or the House’s Commission I would do something about it.

The US are trembling, House Commision I is going to “deal” with them. Crisis in Washington DC.

Colson,

But it’s rather questionable – within the framework of international relations – to ban a member of parliament of a befriended nation from an official visit to your country.

You are right on that one, but Tamsil Linrung shouldn’t have been in Parliament in the first place. Now a very awkward situation has arisen which is felt to be very humiliating. It’s like a child which is being sent to his room for behaving bad.
The humiliation felt may be genuine, the astonishment shown certainly isn’t. Loosing face isn’t pleasant, I do think however this situation could have been avoided.

Chrisnandi gave the US embassy seven days to solve the problem or the House’s Commission I would do something about it.

Just another proof of the incredible arrogance of Indonesia. They probably think they can dictate the great US, Canada and even greater European countries what to do and who to accept in these safe and democratic countries.

Yudhi Chrisnandi, a Golkar member from the parliamentary commission for foreign and defence affairs, complained that the matter was an outrageous insult and humiliation for the Indonesian parliament and the entire nation, and a violation of Tamsil’s human rights. Tamsil wasn’t even going to the United States, he added, but to Canada. [5]

What human rights? A permission to enter another country is solely the discretion of that country. “an outrageous insult and humiliation for the Indonesian parliament and the entire nation”? Well, I’m an Indonesian and I don’t feel insulted by the incident.

Chrisnandi gave the US embassy seven days to solve the problem or the House’s Commission I would do something about it.

What are they going to do, raid the US embassy? 😀 Stupid statements and empty threat like this will eventually make him lose face – if he still has any, that is.

BTW, incidents like this are amusing to me, as we get to observe how “mature” our officials are. Oh what a fun thing to watch it must have been, and yes, pj_bali, I wish I were there at the airport as well.

We Indonesians must unite over this incident. We must prove to the White Man we will NEVER bow to him. We must support Ustad Tamsiil in his effort to struggle for human rights against the Bule. This is another example of how he (The Bule) doesn’t want to hear the Truth from a Brown Man. I say to you all friends, Merdeka!, the Struggle goes on!

Hi Amed sumardosono my browny friend, first: in da peace.
Second: maybe we should support the struggle of some others for human rights too against some with acquired atributes of darker skinned but not brown people?

Honest A. sumardosono, do you want to be the second Borat or Ali G??
I say to you: (We were already) merdeka! The learning goes on!

Peace, my friend! 8)

Ahmad said he personally did not agree with much of Tamsil’s beliefs but he still had to be respected

Colson: It would be political suicide for SBY to put this guy in jail – but I am surprised that he was allowed off the leash to leave the country at all.

Actually in terms of a travel ban you are dealing with a bureaucracy and not a judiciary. They are a power unto themselves as most people who travel for a living come to realise…maybe they (immigration ) just didn’t like his face?…

As to why he is in the Indonesian parliament well hey he has a lot of support in his hometown. No accounting for taste. Whats interesting is all the characters popping up to support this guy. I suppose the logic may be “maybe he is a terrorist but he is our terrorist”. Nationalism makes for strange bedfellows methinks.

@ Mohammed Khafi & pl bali: The judiciary and political system of Indonesia may have serious flaws. But that’s not the point.

God knows I’m not particularly fond of fundamentalists, extremists or terrorists. However, in this case it’s not Indonesia that matters to me, but the way the US and/or Canadian authorities got carried away by their fear. They seem to put aside – at least that’s the way I see it – their own rules of law and the usual rules of international diplomacy, just to keep some Indonesian parliamentarian out because there is reliable (?) evidence that he may be involved in terrorism.

An alternative would have been to keep the guy under 24 hours of surveillance from the moment he enters your country if necessary. But don’t give in on terrorists by bending your own rules of justice.

Once you start travelling abroad, you are not only subjected to the laws of your home country but also to the laws of the country you are travelling to. That starts at the airport where you intend to leave your country.

It is true that Tamsil Linrung hasn’t been convicted, but if president Megawati wouldn’t have intervened, he would have ended up in jail in the Philipines.
For the US and Canada the only thing that matters is, that he was caught with explosives in his luggage and therefore he is considered a dangerous person.

You are right when you say that a decent judiciary considers a suspect innocent until found guilty, unfortunately as long as a person who carries explosives in his luggage can become an MP, the Indonesian judiciary system is far frome being decent.

An alternative would have been to keep the guy under 24 hours of surveillance from the moment he enters your country if necessary. But don’t give in on terrorists by bending your own rules of justice.

Whether rules are bent or not is not clear. I am not familiar with Canadian and/or American immigration laws but I think Immigration Services have lots of freedom to decide who is allowed into the country or not. Did they get carried away by fear? Probably.
The Canadian Goverenment would have kept the whole group under surveillance anyway.
As far as I am concerned Tamsil Linrung should have been allowed into Canada, so he could have been grilled by Canadian journalists about his dark past. But then there would have been an awkward and painful situation too, but now happening on Canadian soil.

We Indonesians must unite over this incident. We must prove to the White Man we will NEVER bow to him. We must support Ustad Tamsiil in his effort to struggle for human rights against the Bule. This is another example of how he (The Bule) doesn’t want to hear the Truth from a Brown Man. I say to you all friends, Merdeka!, the Struggle goes on!

Ahmed I agree to some extent.
1. Indonesia MUST unite.
2. We should never bow to white peeps or any other peeps, that includes Arabs.
3. What is the truth? That he did smuggle C4? And that the US had to allow him to fly to Canada? People like him should have been banned anywhere. But I hope since you’re in favor of him, that he would move and live next to your house and play with your kids.
4. I thought we are already Merdeka? Oh yes you’re right we’re struggling against these organisations that desperately want to establish an Islamic country and from the thugs such as FPI. You’re right!

I fully agree with the ban on Tamsil Linrung, not just to Canada but also to any other part of the world. If he wants to fight and defend the Arabs, send him to Arab countries!
If other members of DPR complaint, it’s understandable, because they are all the same a pack of bad guys who only want to get people’s money and enjoy (with their new LAPTOP).

Suprisingly enough I did receive a reply from the Canadian Embassy on the visa story. The reply was just to say that the embassy is required by law not to comment on any visas issued or not. Not so helpful for the story here but fully understandable. This all makes me wonder where the story is coming from and why the US is being blamed for the travel ban. I would almost bet the the whole incident is a charade to drum up some good old anti-americanism and bolster Pak Linrungs nationalist credentials.

A blind man may not become the president, but a terrorist and criminal can become a member of parliament, and the the father in law of the president can be a mass murderer, no problem, we should re-name Indonesia. GILASTAN!
Put that in your laptop and smoke it!

We Indonesians must unite over this incident. We must prove to the White Man we will NEVER bow to him. We must support Ustad Tamsiil in his effort to struggle for human rights against the Bule. This is another example of how he (The Bule) doesn’t want to hear the Truth from a Brown Man. I say to you all friends, Merdeka!, the Struggle goes on!

Ahmed, I agree with the words you use :
1) UNITE! yes we should unite against all anyone who are willing to kill fellow
human beings for selfish reasons like in Poso, Bali.
2) We must prove to every foreigners, including Arabs, that we will never BOW to
them.
3) This is a very good lesson for Tamsil and his fellow gangsters, hopefully they
would STOP doing evil things.

Once or twice is quite funny, but to keep doing the same idiotic postings time after time is just plain ridiculous. If you don’t have any positive postings and just want to annoy people then just put a disclaimer / warning on all your posting not to take notice of your postings.

pj bali: The US is crucial in these kind of affairs. About half a million people are on their “suspect-list”. It’s rather obscure, but once your name is on it, it will stay there. There’s no way of correction – though mistakes have taken place. I think we should be unhappy about this breach of the usual procedures of law.

If any of these suspect has boarded a plane, it isn’t allowed to fly over US territory. Even if it’s heading straight to an airport outside the US. There has been considerable pressure on EU-countries – and Canada, Australia as well – to comply with the demands of the US. And so they did. They even do so when their planes don’t have to fly in US skies.

In my perception this means the US succesfully has been interfering with the internal affairs of other countries. Which is bad, if it were only because it is fuelling anti-americanism.